If you drive a lot of mileage due to work, family or lifestyle commitments you face the risk of committing a road traffic offence all the time. Although you might think you are a careful and experienced driver, you can quite quickly accumulate penalty points for exceeding a speed limit or driving through a red light, for example. The ‘totting up’ process is how these points are registered on your driving licence, and when you reach 12 points on your licence, this is when you will face serious consequences.
You are liable to face disqualification from driving for a minimum of six months, if you have accumulated 12 penalty points on your licence within a three-year period. Points can be accumulated for numerous offences, but most typically speeding, using a mobile phone while driving, driving without care and attention and driving without insurance. The more serious the offence, the more points you will accumulate.
Understanding the law and the disqualification process
This disqualification process comes from section 35(1) of the Road Traffic Offenders Act 1988, which states that:
“where
(a)a person is convicted of an offence, and
(b)the penalty points to be taken into account on that occasion number twelve or more, the court must order him to be disqualified for not less than the minimum period unless the court is satisfied, having regard to all the circumstances, that there are grounds for mitigating the normal consequences of the conviction and thinks fit to order him to be disqualified for a shorter period or not to order him to be disqualified.”
It is important to note that, under the totting up process, penalty points are accumulated from the date of the offence, not from when the courts impose the points. So if you had nine points on your licence and three points expire before you go to court for a further offence, these three points will still count towards your total as they were on your licence at the time of the most recent offence. Under the totting up process you will still have reached 12 points.
The consequences of being disqualified from driving
When a court disqualifies you from driving, this will be for a minimum of six months. If you ‘ve been disqualified within the last 3 years, the minimum would be 12 months. You will already have found that penalty points on your licence will have increased your insurance premium, but a ban has much more serious potential consequences.
- Work – If you drive for work you may not be able to continue in your current role. Your employer may be lenient about this and offer you a different temporary position, but equally, you could potentially lose your job.
- Family – You won’t be able to drive outside of work, which means children or relatives who depend on you will be let down.
- Lifestyle – You won’t be able to continue with hobbies and interests which require travel, or to visit friends, and will be dependent on other people to drive you around, meaning you lose your freedom and independence.
What are the exceptions to six months’ disqualification if I amass 12 penalty points?
There are some circumstances in which you can avoid an automatic ban of a minimum of six months, if you have accumulated 12 penalty points. The most common way is to demonstrate to the court that disqualification will lead to ‘exceptional hardship’. It is important to note that there is a significant difference between ‘hardship’ and ‘exceptional hardship’. Most people who lose their licence will be severely impacted, and this is a natural consequence of the offence committed which has to be accepted. Where exceptional hardship will be considered is where the courts learn that people who are wholly innocent of any offence will also be impacted.
In such circumstances you will need to present evidence of how your inability to drive will cause suffering and what impacts it will create. This needs to be very carefully prepared and hence needs specialist legal assistance.
Contact Ison Harrison for experienced legal support for road traffic offences.
If you have committed a road traffic offence and are facing a court date to determine penalty points, fines or possible disqualification, contact Ison Harrison today. It is important that you get legal support immediately in order to understand the possible consequences and the legal process this will take. We can also advise on what evidence is required and how this should be gathered. So if you need legal assistance for a road traffic offence, contact Ghaz Iqbal at Ison Harrison today on 0113 200 7413 or email ghaz.iqbal@harrisonbundey.co.uk.
